Ah, Valentine’s Day--an event that inspires lovers...

Ah, Valentine’s Day--an event that inspires lovers to shell out money for flowers, gifts, candy--and detectives.

The Nick Harris Detective Agency often hears from suspicious spouses after the discovery of mysterious purchases of Valentine’s Day gifts. Lingerie, for instance.

“After Valentine’s Day, a wife might notice her husband’s credit card purchases,” said Marcus Joseph, case director of the 85-year-old Van Nuys firm. “We also get phone calls beforehand (Valentine’s Day). If it’s the wife, we would recommend that we follow her husband that (Valentine’s) day to see if he’s going to ‘an extended business lunch.’ Chances are he’d want to see his lover that day.”

Surveillance isn’t the only tool.

“We delivered a singing telegram to one female we suspected of being the Other Woman,” Joseph said. “We said it was from the husband under investigation. She didn’t say, ‘Who are you?’ or ‘What are you talking about?’ She seemed flattered. It wasn’t proof but it was a good indication, and she turned out to be the person.”

The crooner, by the way, was an agency operative--a true singing detective.

Mayor Tom Bradley characterizes L.A. as the City of the 21st Century but, somehow, the signs at 3rd and Hill streets in the Metro Rail construction area seem to hark back to the early 1900s.

Creature of the Week:

Numerous quasi-humans and other figures lurk about the city, most dating back to a time when architecture was graced with fine detail meant to be savored by folks walking to work.

Now, in the automobile age, hectic motorists are less likely to notice such characters as the Roman god of the sea, who’s been stationed on a building at 3rd and Alameda streets for several decades. The original business, long since gone, took his name: the Neptune Meter Co.

One Cheese-and-Hacksaw Pizza to Go, Please:

When a pizza was delivered to the LAPD’s Foothill Station, Officer G.D. Williams couldn’t figure out who ordered it. Then an inmate phoned the front desk and asked if the pie had arrived. When the inmate forked over $15 (including a $3 tip), Williams gave him custody of the pizza.

Fifty million Long Beachmen can’t be wrong:

In a local weekly’s “Best of Long Beach” restaurant poll, readers chose Magdalena’s for best French cuisine. Magdalena’s is in Bellflower.

In observance of National Condom Week (Feb. 14-21), a public relations agency invited the media to the Greater L.A. Press Club to hear speakers and to observe a display of condoms that included “the new novelty versions, such as the Saddam Hussein, the Stealth Bomber. . . .”

We couldn’t attend, and we were afraid to ask for details.

miscelLAny:

Attendance at bingo games in L.A. during the month of December was 61,835, according to the city’s Bingo Division. The players collected $3,104,503 in prize money. The sport, now played at 76 nonprofit and charity institutions in L.A., was legalized in this city in 1979.